Many, if not most, in modern society require access to communication systems in which communication data is communicated pursuant to effectuation of communication services. During operation of a communication system, the communication data is communicated between a set of communication stations including at least a sending station and a receiving station. The sending and receiving stations are interconnected by way of a communication channel. Communication data is communicated by the sending station upon the communication channel. And, the receiving station protects the communicated data and operates to recover the information content of the detected data.
Many different types of communication systems have been developed and deployed, of differing characteristics and capabilities, amenable for effectuating different types of communication services. Some of the communication systems are multi-user communication systems, permitting large numbers of users to communicate by way of such communication systems. And, advancements in technology permit, new communication systems shall likely be developed and deployed, making available yet further communication services and permitting existing communication services to be carried out better or more efficiently.
A radio communication system is an exemplary type of communication system. In a radio communication system, communication channels, referred to as radio channels, are defined upon radio links that extend between the sending and receiving stations of the radio communication system. The radio links are portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. And, in a radio communication system, portions of the electromagnetic spectrum are typically allocated by regulatory bodies, and, regularly, the communication capacity of the communication system is dependent upon the amount of spectrum, i.e., bandwidth, allocated for use by the communication system.
A radio communication system offers various advantages over a wireline counterpart. For instance, a communication system implemented as a radio communication system is generally of a reduced cost relative to its wireline counterpart. And, communications by way of a radio communication system are possible between locations at which formation of a wireline connection, needed in a wireline communication system to interconnect communication stations, would not be possible or practical. Additionally, a radio communication system is amenable for implementation as a mobile communication system. In a mobile communication system, one or more of the communication stations is permitted mobility in which communications by, or with, the communication station are permitted when the communication station is moving or otherwise does not remain at a fixed position.
A cellular communication system is an exemplary type of mobile radio communication system. A cellular communication system is a multi-user system in which mobile stations, typically portable transceivers of dimensions permitting their hand carriage by users, are used to communicate communication data. Successive generations of cellular communication systems have been developed and their networks deployed to encompass significant geographical areas of the world. While early-generation cellular communication systems primarily provided telephonic voice communication services and only limited data communication services, increasingly, new-generation cellular communication systems, and other analogous communication systems, increasingly provide for the effectuation of data-intensive communication services.
Other radio communication systems exhibit some characteristics analogous to those of cellular communication systems. For instance, wireless local area networks (WLANs) also provide for the effectuation of communication services with mobile stations. Data communication services are amongst the communication services that are available for effectuation by way of a wireless local area network.
In a data-intensive communication service effectuated in a cellular, or other, communication system, a challenge is to provide a manner by which to communicate the data both in a timely manner and in a manner permitting the informational content of the data to be recovered once delivered to a receiving station. MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) system implementations have been proposed for implementation in which a sending station simultaneously communicates on separate communication channels, howsoever defined, the communication data for delivery to a receiving station. The communication of the data upon the multiple channels form the multiple inputs. A receiving station that has multiple detecting mechanisms, operable in parallel to detect the communicated data form the multiple outputs of the communication system. Multiple inputs are provided, for instance, through use of space diversity techniques. Or, and of interest herein, in an OFDM communication system, separate channels are defined by orthogonally-spaced, frequency sub-carriers. Multiple inputs are provided by providing communication data for communication upon the different sub-carriers, and channels defined therefrom, of the OFDM scheme.
In a realizable communication system, the different communication channels upon which the communication data is communicated are not identical. That is to say, the different channels exhibit different channel characteristics, e.g., exhibit different levels of fading or other data-degrading-characteristics. While various techniques are available or proposed, by which to compensate for the communication conditions on the separate channels, there generally, to date, the problem has not been addressed in a comprehensive manner, that is, in a manner to select the data to be communicated upon the different communication paths that best achieves a selected performance criteria, such as throughput rate, error rate, transmit power level, etc.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved manner by which to allocate data for communication in a multiple input communication system to achieve best a performance parameter.
It is in light of this background information related to communications in a multiple input communication system that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.